Now, this is my first attempt at criticism in this forum. Hope we´ll still be friends.... ;-)
Peeter Vissak: Garden boats
Eithe an upside-down reflection or a composite. Either way, a surreal image. The bright masonry in the lower left corner distracts, and the sunny atmosphere goes against the dream-like quality. How about a cloudy, or even misty, day for a re-shoot? On my side of the Baltic, we had our share of mists the last two weeks...
Laurenz Bobke: Gorge at dawn
Wow, what a landscape! And the blue light makes one feel the cold damp of an early morning on the water. Sad to think this scene will be drowned forever (not that we in Sweden haven´t drowned a few valleys for hydropower ourselves).
Bob Talbot: Insect
Interesting lines, perfect placement of the shallow focus. Perfect placement of the bug in the frame too. The ring-like structures are probably an optical necesity, but somewhat distracting nevertheless.
Alberto Tirado: e-Clipse
I feel this one should be LARGE to work fully; then it must be a stunner! How about cropping just left of the tower structure, and just right of the rightmost bright thing (crane?) for an almost square shot? Too bad those mists robbed us of the eclipse here...
Gregory David Stempel: Mopping up
Perfect! The silhouette of the fireman, the tree, and the foreground shrubs against the smoke and the water. The composition is just right, too.
Emily L Ferguson: Flash on floor
At first I didn´t like it one bit, far preferring last week´s version. But now it starts to grow on me, with that enormous claw of shadow just looming over the horizon. The pillar and one leg is blown out, which detracts a bit from the mood (or does it, really...). Try cropping just below the round table top, getting rid of it altogether: I feel it would get even more mysterious and menacing then.
Shawna Hanel: Pachyderm
This one should be part of a series (or at least a tritych); as a single image it leaves me saying "so what?" If I remember correctly, you´ve already shown a couple that could go into that context.
Jose Luis Vasconsellos:
I feel the stone wall is just too busy; you lose the figure and the silhouetted face. Also, I would have liked seeing the whole shadow; I guess that big jug would have cast an interesting shadow.
Veli Cigirgan:
The scarred stone wall and the dart-throwing row makes me think of a firing squad scene, only there´s no one in the picture getting shot! The blurred arm in the center is what makes this one work.
Jim Davis: Walking on Water
Coots are fun (even if your coot is different from the Swedish ones). Would have liked to see the chased one as well (or the chaser - hard to telll). As it is, this one just runs out of the picture.
Trevor Cunningham: Birquash Camel Market
Another one that should have been LARGE! Also, a tight crop of only the right half, minus the empty foreground would be interesting with the white figures against the black background. I understand the difficulties of getting it with that camera and lens, however.
OK, that´s it for now. Thanks!
Per
